07 April 2015

Other Places Have Cat Ladies, We Have Prairie Dog Ladies

9News has the story, along with the dubious assertion of law that "prairie dogs are owned by the state of Colorado." While wild animals are regulated by state law, they are not, in general, owned by the state, or for that matter, anyone else, until they become property pursuant to the rule of capture.

The woman in question may well have been housing prairie dogs without a permit in a residential building, but in my view, they are still her property under Colorado law, unless there is some statute to the contrary of which I am unaware.